Scientific & Natural Areas Program

Program mission

Preserve and perpetuate the
ecological diversity of Minnesota's natural heritage, including landforms,
fossil remains, plant and animal communities, rare and endangered species,
or other biotic features and geological formations, for scientific study
and public edification as components of a healthy environment.

The
SNA Program's goal is to ensure that no single rare feature is lost from
any region of the state. This requires protection and management of each
feature in sufficient quantity and distribution across the landscape.

The activities utilized by
the program to carry out its mission and goals include: land protection,
management, education, research and prairie initiatives as well as producing
publications, working with others, and helping private landowners.

The
primary activity is the establishment of system of nature preserves called
Scientific and Natural Areas. This system is found across Minnesota's landscape.

The Program's long-range goal is to protect at least:

Five locations of plant
communities known to occur in each landscape region

Three locations per region of each rare species, plant or animal, and geological feature

Protection
of multiple sites in each landscape region is a vital means of capturing
the genetic diversity and preventing the loss of important species, communities,
and features. This strategy observes the wisdom of not putting all our
eggs in one basket.